Timeline Cards: Laws And Decrees - Ushmm

LAWS AND DECREESUNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

REICHSTAG FIRE DECREE On February 27, 1933, an arsonistburned down the Reichstag, the Germanparliament building. The “Decree of the Reich President forthe Protection of the People and theState,” known as the “Reichstag FireDecree,” declared a state of emergency. With Nazi encouragement, President vonHindenburg suspended freedom ofspeech, freedom of the press, and theright to assemble. The government couldarrest political opponents withoutcharge, dissolve political organizations,and censor newspapers.FEBRUARY 28, 1933LAWS AND DECREESUNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

ENABLING ACT The German parliament passed the“Law for Rectification of theDistress of Nation and Reich,”commonly called the “EnablingAct.” The law allowed Hitler topropose and sign legislation intolaw without consulting theparliament. This law effectively created adictatorship in Germany. This propaganda flyer exclaims,“The Reichstag in Flames!” andurges, “Choose Hitler!”MARCH 23, 1933LAWS AND DECREESUNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

CIVIL SERVICE LAW The German government issued the“Law for the Restoration of theProfessional Civil Service.” The law removed Jews and politicalopponents of the Nazis from civilservice positions, including school,university, and government jobs.People were exempt only if they hadbeen in that job before August 1914,had fought in World War I, or hadlost a father or son in the war. Most Jewish lawyers were alsoforbidden to practice law.APRIL 7, 1933LAWS AND DECREESUNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

EDUCATION LAW The German government issued the“Law Against Overcrowding inSchools and Universities.” The law stated that Jewish studentscould be no more than 5 percent of thestudent population of any public schoolor university. Many Jewish students had to leavepublic school and start attendingprivate school. German schools taught Nazi racialideas about the superiority of “Aryans”and the inferiority of Jews.APRIL 25, 1933LAWS AND DECREESUNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

STERILIZATION LAW The German government passed the“Law for the Prevention ofOffspring with HereditaryDiseases.” The law allowed the government toforcibly sterilize people withphysical or mental disabilities sothey could not have children. Under the law, 400,000 Germanswere sterilized from January 1934to May 1945. The caption of this propaganda slidereads “Life only as a Burden.”JULY 14, 1933LAWS AND DECREESUNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

PRESS CENSORSHIP LAW The “Editors’ Law” forbade Jewsfrom working in journalism. The German Propaganda Ministrykept registries of “racially pure”editors and journalists. New reportershad to register and show they were notJewish. Newspapers could not publish anyinformation that would “weaken thestrength of the Reich abroad orat home.” Journalists who broke this law couldbe sent to concentration camps.OCTOBER 4, 1933LAWS AND DECREESUNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

LAW AGAINST “CRIMINALS” The German government passed a“Law Against Dangerous HabitualCriminals.” The government was authorizedto hold prisoners indefinitely, evenif they had successfully served aprison term, if Nazi officialsdecided the prisoner was a“dangerous habitual criminal.” Instead of being released fromjail, the prisoner would often betransferred to a concentrationcamp.NOVEMBER 24, 1933LAWS AND DECREESUNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

MANDATORY MILITARY SERVICE The German government enacteda conscription law, which appliedto all men between 18 and 45. After May 1935, drafted soldiershad to show evidence that they were“Aryan.” Jews were forbidden toserve, and Jehovah’s Witnessesrefused to join the military. Hitler also officially announced thatGermany would begin rebuilding itsmilitary (which it was alreadysecretly doing). This was a violationof the Treaty of Versailles, whichhad limited the size of Germany’smilitary after World War I.MARCH 16, 1935LAWS AND DECREESUNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

JEHOVAH’S WITNESSORGANIZATION BANNED The German government banned the WatchtowerBible and Tract Society, a Jehovah’s Witnesspublishing house. Local laws had already bannedthe Jehovah’s Witness organization entirely. ManyWitnesses violated laws against practicing theirreligion and distributing religious literature. Jehovah’s Witnesses also refused to swearallegiance to Hitler or Nazi Germany or to servein the military. Witnesses faced persecution and arrest. To bereleased from imprisonment, they could sign aform like this one, swearing allegiance to NaziGermany. Few did so.APRIL 1, 1935LAWS AND DECREESUNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

REVISION OF PARAGRAPH 175 The German government revised anexisting law that already outlawedmale homosexuality. The revision expanded whatactivities qualified as sexual contactand increased the punishments forthose acts. Gay men were persecuted becausethey were seen as corrupting“German values” and not adding tothe population. Because lesbianscould still have biological children,they were usually not targeted.JUNE 28, 1935LAWS AND DECREESUNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

REICH CITIZENSHIP LAW This law defined who the Germangovernment considered “German”and who was a “Jew.” The law defined Jews as a raceidentified by blood and genealogy.It did not identify Judaism as areligion or culture. Under this law, Jews lost theircitizenship and became “subjectsof the state.” This law and the “Law for theProtection of German Blood andGerman Honor” are called the“Nuremberg Race Laws.”SEPTEMBER 15, 1935LAWS AND DECREESUNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

LAW FOR THE PROTECTION OFGERMAN BLOOD AND HONOR The German governmentbanned the marriage betweenJews and non-Jews. It also made sexual relationsbetween these “mixed race”couples illegal. This crime wascalled Rassenschande [racedefilement]. This law and the “ReichCitizenship Law” are calledthe “Nuremberg Race Laws.”SEPTEMBER 15, 1935LAWS AND DECREESUNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

RACIAL DEFINITIONS EXPLAINED The German government issued the “FirstRegulation” to the September 15, 1935 ReichCitizenship Law. The regulation clarified that Germans who weredescended from one or two Jewish grandparentswould be considered Mischling (mixed race).Those who had three or more Jewishgrandparents were classified as Jews. Mischling were still permitted to vote and holdcivil service jobs. German Jews who served in World War I losttheir exemption from the April 7, 1933 law.They had to retire from civil service jobs by theend of the year.NOVEMBER 14, 1935LAWS AND DECREESUNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

NUREMBERG LAWS EXTENDED The Reich Minister of the Interior,Wilhelm Frick, announced an expansionof the September 15, 1935 ReichCitizenship Law. Frick stated that the citizenship law alsoapplied to Roma and Sinti (so-called“gypsies”) and to Afro-Germans. Roma, Sinti, and Afro-Germans lost theircitizenship and were not permitted tomarry “Aryan” Germans. This racial identity card identifies KonradLehman as a Zigeuner (Gypsy).NOVEMBER 26, 1935LAWS AND DECREESUNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

JEWISH NAME LAW The “Law on the Alterationof Family and PersonalNames” required Jews whodid not have “Jewish firstnames” to take the middlenames “Israel” (for men) or“Sara” (for women). By January 1, 1939, all Jewsneeded to obtain newpassports or identity cardslisting their new names.These documents weremarked with the letter “J.”AUGUST 17, 1938LAWS AND DECREESUNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

ANTI-JEWISH ECONOMY LAW The “Decree on the Exclusion of Jewsfrom Economic Life” prohibited Jewsfrom owning businesses or engagingin trade. Jewish-owned businesses had alreadyfaced pressure to “Aryanize,” whichmeant that the Jewish owner would beforced to sell his or her business at asteep discount to a non-Jewishemployee or Nazi supporter. This photo was taken at Arthur Lewy’scigar shop in Berlin in the 1930s.After this decree, Arthur was forcedto “Aryanize” his shop and could nolonger work.NOVEMBER 12, 1938LAWS AND DECREESUNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

EUTHANASIA DECREE In the fall of 1939, Hitler signed a note thatauthorized designated physicians to carryout “mercy killings.” In fact, the letter wasmeant to protect doctors participating in the“euthanasia” program, a secret program ofmass murder targeting institutionalizedpeople with disabilities. The Nazi euthanasia program was called“Operation T-4” because the address whereit was planned was Tiergartenstrasse 4 inBerlin. Operation T4 was Germany’s first programof mass murder. Historians estimate250,000 people were murdered as part ofthe Nazi euthanasia program.SEPTEMBER 1, 1939LAWS AND DECREESUNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

GERMAN MILITARY ISSUESCOMMISSAR ORDER Commissars were officials in theSoviet Communist Party assignedto Soviet military units. Theyspread patriotic, pro-communistpropaganda to Soviet troops. This order authorized andencouraged German soldiers toexecute commissars. The commissar order sent amessage to the German militarythat they did not have to follow theinternational laws of war.JUNE 6, 1941LAWS AND DECREESUNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

JEWISH BADGE INTRODUCEDIN GERMANY A “Jewish badge” was not unique to NaziGermany but had a long history. In pre-moderntimes, Jews were sometimes forced to wearbadges, patches, medals, or other means ofidentification. These orders were almost alwaysaccompanied by antisemitic laws. Nazi Germany forced Jews to wear badges—mostoften a yellow patch in the shape of a Star ofDavid—as an easy way to identify them. Geography mattered. Jews in German-occupiedPoland were forced to wear a badge beginning in1939; Jews in the Netherlands didn’t have to wearone until 1942.SEPTEMBER 1, 1941LAWS AND DECREESUNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

ANNOUNCEMENT OF DEATHPENALTY FOR AIDING JEWS Non-Jews were often warned against assistingJews. Although this poster was issued in Warsawin September 1942, this warning was not new orlimited to Poland. The poster warned that Jews in hiding would besubjected to the death penalty. Anyone caughthiding Jews or helping them—transportingthem, buying valuables from them, or providingthem with food—would also be sentenced todeath in Poland. Very few non-Jews were willing to risk theirlives to help Jews.SEPTEMBER 5, 1942LAWS AND DECREESUNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

ANNOUNCEMENT OF DEATH Non-Jews were often warned against assisting Jews. Although this poster was issued in Warsaw in September 1942, this warning was not new or limited to Poland. The poster warned that Jews in hiding would be subjected to the death penalt